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corporation

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

11 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "corporation", 11-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "corporation" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "corporation" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

corporation is aEnglishnoun. It means: A body corporate, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members. Pronounced /ˌkɔː.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/. It ranks #2,524 in English word frequency. Often confused with corporations and coronation.

Key facts for corporation
PropertyValue
Headwordcorporation
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌkɔː.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
Letters11
Frequency rank#2,524
Misspellings tracked17
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of corporation in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for corporation is 11 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌkɔː.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,524 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 17 documented wrong-spelling variants for corporation, with forms such as "ccorporation", "coproration", and "coropration". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "corporations", "coronation", "coloration", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English corporacion, corporation, from Late Latin corporatio (“assumption of a body”), from Latin corporatus, past participle of corporare (“to form into a body”); see corporate. (protruding belly): Perhaps a play on the word corpulence. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is corporation, spelled C-O-R-P-O-R-A-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    A body corporate, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members.
  2. 2
    The municipal governing body of a borough or city.
  3. 3
    In Fascist Italy, a joint association of employers' and workers' representatives.
  4. 4
    A protruding belly.

Etymology

From Middle English corporacion, corporation, from Late Latin corporatio (“assumption of a body”), from Latin corporatus, past participle of corporare (“to form into a body”); see corporate. (protruding belly): Perhaps a play on the word corpulence.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ccorporation,coproration,coropration,corpoartion,corporaiton,corporasion,corporatino,corporationn,corporatoin,corporattion,corporration,corportaion,corpporation,corproation,corrporation,croporation,ocrporation

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for corporation

Misspelling Variants of "corporation"

ccorporation12coproration11coropration11corpoartion11corporaiton11corporasion11corporatino11corporationn12
Misspelling Variants of "corporation"

Frequency rank: #2,524 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "corporation"?
"corporation" is spelled C-O-R-P-O-R-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌkɔː.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/.
What does "corporation" mean?
As a noun, "corporation" means: A body corporate, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members.
What words are commonly confused with "corporation"?
"corporation" is commonly confused with "corporations", "coronation", "coloration". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "corporation"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "corporation" is /ˌkɔː.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "corporation"?
From Middle English corporacion, corporation, from Late Latin corporatio (“assumption of a body”), from Latin corporatus, past participle of corporare (“to form into a body”); see corporate. (protruding belly): Perhaps a play on the word corpulence. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.